Cross-platform messaging

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods are provided for displaying a short message service (SMS) message on user media equipment, in which the user media equipment includes a set-top box and a display. In some embodiments, the set-top box receives an SMS message, wherein the SMS message includes information identifying a triggering event for displaying the SMS message. The SMS message is stored until the occurrence and detection of the identified triggering event. In response to detecting the occurrence of the identified triggering event, the SMS message is displayed on at least a portion of the display of the user media equipment.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/336,994, filed Dec. 23, 2011, which is a continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/899,763, filed Sep. 7, 2007, and issued on Jan.31, 2012as U.S. Pat. No. 8,107,977, all of which are hereby incorporatedby reference herein in their entireties.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to receiving and displaying a shortmessage service (SMS) message on a user equipment device, such as aset-top box of a user media equipment.

Short message service (SMS), also known as text messaging, refers to aprotocol for sending and receiving short messages (SMS can also refer tothe messages themselves) between mobile devices. Many mobile phones andpersonal data assistants (PDA) include SMS as a standard feature and, asa result, messaging via SMS is widely used by the users of such devices.An advantage of SMS is that SMS messages can be quickly composed andsent to a desired recipient. Notification and display of the message onthe recipient's mobile device usually occurs immediately upon receipt ofthe SMS.

Despite these and other useful features, the SMS protocol has not beenfully implemented on certain other devices, particularly less- ornon-mobile devices that are not normally considered to be platforms forsending, receiving or displaying SMS messages. Furthermore, suchdevices, unlike mobile phones, may not be configured to serve asdedicated communication devices, and thus systems and methods forcontrolling the notification and display of SMS messages on such devicesdo not exist.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In the present invention, methods and systems are provided fordisplaying short message service (SMS) messages on a user equipmentdevice. In some embodiments, the user equipment devices can be a usermedia equipment which includes a set-top box and a display. At leastsome portion of the set-top box can be integrated with the display. Theset-top box can receive an SMS message, wherein the SMS message includesinformation that can identify a triggering event for displaying the SMSmessage. The SMS message can be stored until the occurrence of theidentified triggering event. In response to detecting the occurrence ofthe identified triggering event, the SMS message can be displayed on atleast a portion of the display of the user media equipment. The receivedSMS message can be displayed in a pop-up window, or in an overlay,either of which may be displayed over an underlying display.

Such embodiments may provide certain advantages. For example, while SMSmessages are usually displayed upon their receipt, displaying the SMSmessage upon detection of the occurrence of a triggering event mayadvantageously provide the option of controlling the time and/orcircumstances of displaying the SMS message, so that the message isdisplayed at a more opportune, appropriate, or suitable time. Anotheradvantage may be that by displaying the SMS message in response tocertain triggering events, the displayed message can provide informationor notification relating to the triggering event. Another advantage maybe that displaying the SMS message can be made conditional to theoccurrence of the triggering events. Other suitable advantages will beapparent to those skilled in the art.

The triggering event for displaying the SMS message can include, withoutlimitation, a specified time of day, a specified date, a broadcast timeof a specified program received by the set-top box, a display of aspecified commercial on the user media equipment, a specified timeinterval prior to a broadcast time of a specified program received bythe set-top box, an marked event in a calendar, a display of auser-specified reminder on the user media equipment, an occurrence of anexternal event (e.g., a news event, a weather event, a financial-relatedevent, a traffic event, etc.), or any combination thereof.

The triggering event for displaying the SMS message can also include anaction taken by a user. Such user actions can include, withoutlimitation, tuning the set-top box to a specified channel, selecting aspecified program to be displayed on the user media equipment, setting areminder, acknowledging a displayed notification message that isdisplayed on the user media equipment, starting the user mediaequipment, starting an application, providing user-identifyinginformation, or any combination thereof.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the set-top box can beconfigured to receive a broadcast signal from a broadcast service, andthe SMS message can be received via the broadcast signal. Examples ofthe broadcast service can include, without limitation, digital satellitebroadcast service, digital cable broadcast service, or digitalterrestrial broadcast service.

The broadcast signal can include a vertical blanking interval (VBI),within which the SMS message is encoded and received.

In some embodiments of the present, invention, an interactive mediaguidance application can be implemented and displayed on the user mediaequipment, and the received SMS message can be displayed in at least aportion of the interactive media guidance application display.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the SMS message can be anextended SMS message. The extended SMS message can include content suchas, without limitation, a text message, at least one video clip, atleast one audio clip, at least one picture, at least one universalresource locator, or any combination thereof.

The present invention can include other types of messages, such as along SMS message, a concatenated SMS message, an enhanced SMS message(EMS), a multimedia SMS message (MMS), or any combination thereof.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the SMS message caninclude information identifying one or more intended recipients of theSMS message, and that at least one of the intended recipients of the SMSmessage is the set-top box is determined when the SMS message isreceived.

In some embodiments of the present invention, a plurality of SMSmessages can be received, and the received plurality of SMS messages areconcatenated to create the SMS message. In some embodiments of thepresent invention, at least one of the received plurality of SMSmessages includes the information that identifies the triggering event.

In some embodiments of the present invention, a user response to thedisplayed SMS message is received by the set-top box, and the userresponse is sent from the set-top box to a sender of the displayed SMSmessage. In some embodiments of the present invention, the user responseis sent via an email-to-SMS gateway.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the set-top box isconfigured to be in signal communication with a plurality of otherrecipient devices, each of which are configured to display SMS messages.The received SMS message is addressed to at least one of the pluralityof other recipient devices. When receiving the SMS message, the at leastone of the plurality of other recipient devices to which the receivedSMS message is addressed is determined, and the received SMS message isforwarded to the at least one of the plurality of other recipientdevices to which the received SMS message is addressed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

The above and other objects and advantages of the invention will beapparent upon consideration of the following detailed description, takenin conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like referencecharacters refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIGS. 1 and 2 show illustrative display screens that may be used toprovide media guidance application listings in accordance with oneembodiment of the invention;

FIG. 3 shows an illustrative user equipment device in accordance withone embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 4 is a diagram of an illustrative cross-platform interactive mediasystem in accordance with one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 5 is a diagram of an illustrative display screen of a userequipment device in accordance with one embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 6 shows an illustrative flow diagram for encoding and receiving anSMS message in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 shows an illustrative flow diagram for receiving and displayingan SMS message in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 8 shows an illustrative flow diagram for identifying recipients ofthe SMS message in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 9 shows an illustrative flow diagram for receiving and sending auser response to a displayed SMS message in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 10 shows an illustrative flow diagram for determining that areceived SMS message is addressed to other recipient devices andforwarding the SMS message to said other recipient devices.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The amount of media available to users in any given media deliverysystem can be substantial. Consequently, many users desire a form ofmedia guidance through an interface that allows users to efficientlynavigate media selections and easily identify media that they maydesire. An application which provides such guidance is referred toherein as an interactive media guidance application or, sometimes, amedia guidance application or a guidance application.

Interactive media guidance applications may take various forms dependingon the media for which they provide guidance. One typical type of mediaguidance application is an interactive television program guide.Interactive television program guides (sometimes referred to aselectronic program guides) are well-known guidance applications that,among other things, allow users to navigate among and locate many typesof media content including conventional television programming (providedvia traditional broadcast, cable, satellite, Internet, or other means),as well as pay-per-view programs, on-demand programs (as invideo-on-demand (VOD) systems), Internet content (e.g., streaming media,downloadable media, Webcasts, etc.), and other types of media or videocontent. Guidance applications also allow users to navigate among andlocate content related to the video content including, for example,video clips, articles, advertisements, chat sessions, games, etc.

With the advent of the Internet, mobile computing, and high-speedwireless networks, users are accessing media on personal computers (PCs)and other devices on which they traditionally did not, such as hand-heldcomputers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), mobile telephones, orother mobile devices. On these devices users are able to navigate amongand locate the same media available through a television. Consequently,media guidance is necessary on these devices, as well. The guidanceprovided may be for media content available only through a television,for media content available only through one or more of these devices;or for media content available both through a television and one or moreof these devices. The media guidance applications may be provided asonline applications (i.e., provided on a web-site), or as stand-aloneapplications or clients on hand-held computers, PDAs, mobile telephones,or other mobile devices. The various devices and platforms that mayimplement media guidance applications are described in more detailbelow.

One of the functions of the media guidance application is to providemedia listings and media information to users. FIGS. 1-2 showillustrative display screens that may be used to provide media guidance,and in particular media listings. The display screens shown in FIGS. 1and 2 may be implemented on any suitable device or platform. While thedisplays of FIGS. 1 and 2 are illustrated as full screen displays, theymay also be fully or partially overlaid over media content beingdisplayed. A user may indicate a desire to access media information byselecting a selectable option provided in a display screen (e.g., a menuoption, a listings option, an icon, a hyperlink, etc.) or pressing adedicated button (e.g., a GUIDE button) on a remote control or otheruser input interface or device. In response to the user's indication,the media guidance application may provide a display screen with mediainformation organized in one of several ways, such as by time andchannel in a grid, by time, by channel, by media type, by category(e.g., movies, sports, news, children, or other categories ofprogramming), or other predefined, user-defined, or other organizationcriteria.

FIG. 1 shows illustrative grid program listings display 100 arranged bytime and channel that also enables access to different types of mediacontent in a single display. Display 100 may include grid 102 with: (1)a column of channel/media type identifiers 104, where each channel/mediatype identifier (which is a cell in the column) identifies a differentchannel or media type available; and (2) a row of time identifiers 106,where each time identifier (which is a cell in the row) identifies atime block of programming. Grid 102 also includes cells of programlistings, such as program listing 108, where each listing provides thetitle of the program provided on the listing's associated channel andtime. With a user input device, a user can select program listings bymoving highlight region 110. Information relating to the program listingselected by highlight region 110 may be provided in program informationregion 112. Region 112 may include, for example, the program title, theprogram description, the time the program is provided (if applicable),the channel the program is on (if applicable), the program's rating, andother desired information.

In addition to providing access to linear programming provided accordingto a schedule, the media guidance application also provides access tonon-linear programming which is not provided according to a schedule.Non-linear programming may include content from different media sourcesincluding on-demand media content (e.g., VOD), Internet content (e.g.,streaming media, downloadable media, etc.), locally stored media content(e.g., video content stored on a digital video recorder (DVR), digitalvideo disc (DVD), video cassette, compact disc (CD), etc.), or othertime-insensitive media content. On-demand content may include bothmovies and original media content provided by a particular mediaprovider (e.g., HBO On Demand providing “The Sopranos” and “Curb YourEnthusiasm”). HBO ON DEMAND is a service mark owned by Time WarnerCompany L. P. et al. and THE SOPRANOS and CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM aretrademarks owned by the Home Box Office, Inc. Internet content mayinclude web events, such as a chat session or Webcast, or contentavailable on-demand as streaming media or downloadable media through anInternet web site or other Internet access (e.g., FTP).

Grid 102 may provide listings for non-linear programming includingon-demand listing 114, recorded media listing 116, and Internet contentlisting 118. A display combining listings for content from differenttypes of media sources is sometimes referred to as a “mixed-media”display. The various permutations of the types of listings that may bedisplayed that are different than display 100 may be based on userselection or guidance application definition (e.g., a display of onlyrecorded and broadcast listings, only on-demand and broadcast listings,etc.). As illustrated, listings 114, 116, and 118 are shown as spanningthe entire time block displayed in grid 102 to indicate that selectionof these listings may provide access to a display dedicated to on-demandlistings, recorded listings, or Internet listings, respectively. Inother embodiments, listings for these media types may be includeddirectly in grid 102. Additional listings may be displayed in responseto the user selecting one of the navigational icons 120. (Pressing anarrow key on a user input device may affect the display in a similarmanner as selecting navigational icons 120.)

Display 100 may also include video region 122, advertisement 124, andoptions region 126. Video region 122 may allow the user to view and/orpreview programs that are currently available, will be available, orwere available to the user. The content of video region 122 maycorrespond to, or be independent from, one of the listings displayed ingrid 102. Grid displays including a video region are sometimes referredto as picture-in-guide (PIG) displays. PIG displays and theirfunctionalities are described in greater detail in Satterfield et al.U.S. Pat. No. 6,564,378, issued May 13, 2003 and Yuen et al. U.S. Pat.No. 6,239,794, issued May 29, 2001, which are hereby incorporated byreference herein in their entireties. PIG displays may be included inother media guidance application display screens of the presentinvention.

Advertisement 124 may provide an advertisement for media content that,depending on a viewer's access rights (e.g., for subscriptionprogramming), is currently available for viewing, will be available forviewing in the future, or may never become available for viewing, andmay correspond to or be unrelated to one or more of the media listingsin grid 102. Advertisement 124 may also be for products or servicesrelated or unrelated to the media content displayed in grid 102.Advertisement 124 may be selectable and provide further informationabout media content, provide information about a product or a service,enable purchasing of media content, a product, or a service, providemedia content relating to the advertisement, etc. Advertisement 124 maybe targeted based on a user's profile/preferences, monitored useractivity, the type of display provided, or on other suitable targetedadvertisement bases.

While advertisement 124 is shown as rectangular or banner shaped,advertisements may be provided in any suitable size, shape, and locationin a guidance application display. For example, advertisement 124 may beprovided as a rectangular shape that is horizontally adjacent to grid102. This is sometimes referred to as a panel advertisement. Inaddition, advertisements may be overlaid over media content or aguidance application display or embedded within a display.Advertisements may also include text, images, rotating images, videoclips, or other types of media content. Advertisements may be stored inthe user equipment with the guidance application, in a databaseconnected to the user equipment, in a remote location (includingstreaming media servers), or on other storage means or a combination ofthese locations. Providing advertisements in a media guidanceapplication is discussed in greater detail in, for example, Knudson etal., U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/347,673, filed Jan. 17, 2003,Ward, III et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,756,997, issued Jun. 29, 2004, andSchein et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,388,714, issued May 14, 2002, which arehereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties. It will beappreciated that advertisements may be included in other media guidanceapplication display screens of the present invention.

Options region 126 may allow the user to access different types of mediacontent, media guidance application displays, and/or media guidanceapplication features. Options region 126 may be part of display 100 (andother display screens of the present invention), or may be invoked by auser by selecting an on-screen option or pressing a dedicated orassignable button on a user input device. The selectable options withinoptions region 126 may concern features related to program listings ingrid 102 or may include options available from a main menu display.Features related to program listings may include searching for other airtimes or ways of receiving a program, recording a program, enablingseries recording of a program, setting program and/or channel as afavorite, purchasing a program, or other features. Options availablefrom a main menu display may include search options, VOD options,parental control options, access to various types of listing displays,subscribe to a premium service, edit a user's profile, access a browseoverlay, or other options.

The media guidance application may be personalized based on a user'spreferences. A personalized media guidance application allows a user tocustomize displays and features to create a personalized “experience”with the media guidance application. This personalized experience may becreated by allowing a user to input these customizations and/or by themedia guidance application monitoring user activity to determine varioususer preferences. Users may access their personalized guidanceapplication by logging in or otherwise identifying themselves to theguidance application. Customization of the media guidance applicationmay be made in accordance with a user profile. The customizations mayinclude varying presentation schemes (e.g., color scheme of displays,font size of text, etc.), aspects of media content listings displayed(e.g., only HDTV programming, user-specified broadcast channels based onfavorite channel selections, re-ordering the display of channels,recommended media content, etc.), desired recording features (e.g.,recording or series recordings for particular users, recording quality,etc.), parental control settings, and other desired customizations.

The media guidance application may allow a user to provide user profileinformation or may automatically compile user profile information. Themedia guidance application may, for example, monitor the media the useraccesses and/or other interactions the user may have with the guidanceapplication. Additionally, the media guidance application may obtain allor part of other user profiles that are related to a particular user(e.g., from other web sites on the Internet the user accesses, such aswww.tvguide.com, from other media guidance applications the useraccesses, from other interactive applications the user accesses, from ahandheld device of the user, etc.), and/or obtain information about theuser from other sources that the media guidance application may access.As a result, a user can be provided with a unified guidance applicationexperience across the user's different devices. This type of userexperience is described in greater detail below in connection with FIG.4. Additional personalized media guidance application features aredescribed in greater detail in Ellis et al., U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 11/179,410, filed Jul. 11, 2005, Boyer et al., U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 09/437,304, filed Nov. 9, 1999, and Ellis et al.,U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/105,128, filed Feb. 21, 2002, whichare hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.

Another display arrangement for providing media guidance is shown inFIG. 2. Video mosaic display 200 includes selectable options 202 formedia content information organized based on media type, genre, and/orother organization criteria. In display 200, television listings option204 is selected, thus providing listings 206, 208, 210, and 212 asbroadcast program listings. Unlike the listings from FIG. 1, thelistings in display 200 are not limited to simple text (e.g., theprogram title) and icons to describe media. Rather, in display 200 thelistings may provide graphical images including cover art, still imagesfrom the media content, video clip previews, live video from the mediacontent, or other types of media that indicate to a user the mediacontent being described by the listing. Each of the graphical listingsmay also be accompanied by text to provide further information about themedia content associated with the listing. For example, listing 208 mayinclude more than one portion, including media portion 214 and textportion 216. Media portion 214 and/or text portion 216 may be selectableto view video in full-screen or to view program listings related to thevideo displayed in media portion 214 (e.g., to view listings for thechannel that the video is displayed on).

The listings in display 200 are of different sizes (i.e., listing 206 islarger than listings 208, 210, and 212), but if desired, all thelistings may be the same size. Listings may be of different sizes orgraphically accentuated to indicate degrees of interest to the user orto emphasize certain content, as desired by the media provider or basedon user preferences. Various systems and methods for graphicallyaccentuating media listings are discussed in, for example, Yates, U.S.patent application Ser. No. 11/324,202, filed Dec. 29, 2005, which ishereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

Users may access media content and the media guidance application (andits display screens described above and below) from one or more of theiruser equipment devices. FIG. 3 shows a generalized embodiment ofillustrative user equipment device 300. More specific implementations ofuser equipment devices are discussed below in connection with FIG. 4.User equipment device 300 may receive media content and data viainput/output (hereinafter “I/O”) path 302. I/O path 302 may providemedia content (e.g., broadcast programming, on-demand programming,Internet content, and other video or audio) and data to controlcircuitry 304, which includes processing circuitry 306 and storage 308.Control circuitry 304 may be used to send and receive commands,requests, and other suitable data using I/O path 302. I/O path 302 mayconnect control circuitry 304 (and specifically processing circuitry306) to one or more communications paths (described below). I/Ofunctions may be provided by one or more of these communications paths,but are shown as a single path in FIG. 3 to avoid overcomplicating thedrawing.

Control circuitry 304 may be based on any suitable processing circuitry306 such as processing circuitry based on one or more microprocessors,microcontrollers, digital signal processors, programmable logic devices,etc. In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 executes instructionsfor a media guidance application stored in memory (i.e., storage 308).In client-server based embodiments, control circuitry 304 may includecommunications circuitry suitable for communicating with a guidanceapplication server or other networks or servers. Communicationscircuitry may include a cable modem, an integrated services digitalnetwork (ISDN) modem, a digital subscriber line (DSL) modem, a telephonemodem, a wireless modem, or a public land mobile network (PLMN)interface for communications with other equipment or service provider.Such communications may involve the Internet or any other suitablecommunications networks or paths (which is described in more detail inconnection with FIG. 4). In addition, communications circuitry mayinclude circuitry that enables peer-to-peer communication of userequipment devices, or communication of user equipment devices inlocations remote from each other (described in more detail below).

Memory (e.g., random-access memory, read-only memory, or any othersuitable memory), hard drives, optical drives, or any other suitablefixed or removable storage devices (e.g., DVD recorder, CD recorder,video cassette recorder, or other suitable recording device) may beprovided as storage 308 that is part of control circuitry 304. Storage308 may include one or more of the above types of storage devices. Forexample, user equipment device 300 may include a hard drive for a DVR(sometimes called a personal video recorder, or PVR) and a DVD recorderas a secondary storage device. Storage 308 may be used to store varioustypes of media described herein and guidance application data, includingprogram information, guidance application settings, user preferences orprofile information, or other data used in operating the guidanceapplication. Nonvolatile memory may also be used (e.g., to launch aboot-up routine and other instructions).

Control circuitry 304 may include video generating circuitry and tuningcircuitry, such as one or more analog tuners, one or more MPEG-2decoders or other digital decoding circuitry, high-definition tuners, orany other suitable tuning or video circuits or combinations of suchcircuits. Encoding circuitry (e.g., for converting over-the-air, analog,or digital signals to MPEG signals for storage) may also be provided.Control circuitry 304 may also include scaler circuitry for upconvertingand downconverting media into the preferred output format of the userequipment 300. Circuitry 304 may also include digital-to-analogconverter circuitry and analog-to-digital converter circuitry forconverting between digital and analog signals. The tuning and encodingcircuitry may be used by the user equipment to receive and to display,to play, or to record media content. The tuning and encoding circuitrymay also be used to receive guidance data. The circuitry describedherein, including for example, the tuning, video generating, encoding,decoding, scaler, and analog/digital circuitry, may be implemented usingsoftware running on one or more general purpose or specializedprocessors. Multiple tuners may be provided to handle simultaneoustuning functions (e.g., watch and record functions, picture-in-picture(PIP) functions, multiple-tuner recording, etc.). If storage 308 isprovided as a separate device from user equipment 300, the tuning andencoding circuitry (including multiple tuners) may be associated withstorage 308.

A user may control the control circuitry 304 using user input interface310. User input interface 310 may be any suitable user interface, suchas a remote control, mouse, trackball, keypad, keyboard, touch screen,touch pad, stylus input, joystick, voice recognition interface, or otheruser input interfaces. Display 312 may be provided as a stand-alonedevice or integrated with other elements of user equipment device 300.Display 312 may be one or more of a monitor, a television, a liquidcrystal display (LCD) for a mobile device, or any other suitableequipment for displaying visual images. In some embodiments, display 312may be HDTV-capable. Speakers 314 may be provided as integrated withother elements of user equipment device 300 or may be stand-alone units.The audio component of videos and other media content displayed ondisplay 312 may be played through speakers 314. In some embodiments, theaudio may be distributed to a receiver (not shown), which processes andoutputs the audio via speakers 314.

User equipment device 300 of FIG. 3 can be implemented in system 400 ofFIG. 4 as user television equipment (or user media equipment) 402, usercomputer equipment 404, wireless user communications device 406, or anyother type of user equipment suitable for accessing media, such as anon-portable gaming machine. For simplicity, these devices may bereferred to herein collectively as user equipment or user equipmentdevices. User equipment devices, on which a media guidance applicationis implemented, may function as a standalone device or may be part of anetwork of devices. Various network configurations of devices may beimplemented and are discussed in more detail below.

User television equipment 402 may include a set-top box, an integratedreceiver decoder (IRD) for handling satellite television, a televisionset, a digital storage device, a DVD recorder, a video-cassette recorder(VCR), a local media server, or other user television equipment. One ormore of these devices may be integrated to be a single device, ifdesired. User computer equipment 404 may include a PC, a laptop, atablet, a WebTV box, a personal computer television (PC/TV), a PC mediaserver, a PC media center, or other user computer equipment. WEBTV is atrademark owned by Microsoft Corp. Wireless user communications device406 may include PDAs, a mobile telephone, a portable video player, aportable music player, a portable gaming machine, or other wirelessdevices.

It should be noted that with the advent of television tuner cards forPC's, WebTV, and the integration of video into other user equipmentdevices, the lines have become blurred when trying to classify a deviceas one of the above devices. In fact, each of user television equipment402, user computer equipment 404, and wireless user communicationsdevice 406 may utilize at least some of the system features describedabove in connection with FIG. 3 and, as a result, include flexibilitywith respect to the type of media content available on the device. Forexample, user television equipment 402 may be Internet-enabled allowingfor access to Internet content, while user computer equipment 404 mayinclude a tuner allowing for access to television programming. The mediaguidance application may also have the same layout on the variousdifferent types of user equipment or may be tailored to the displaycapabilities of the user equipment. For example, on user computerequipment, the guidance application may be provided as a web siteaccessed by a web browser. In another example, the guidance applicationmay be scaled down for wireless user communications devices.

In system 400, there is typically more than one of each type of userequipment device but only one of each is shown in FIG. 4 to avoidovercomplicating the drawing. In addition, each user may utilize morethan one type of user equipment device (e.g., a user may have atelevision set and a computer) and also more than one of each type ofuser equipment device (e.g., a user may have a PDA and a mobiletelephone and/or multiple television sets).

The user may also set various settings to maintain consistent mediaguidance application settings across in-home devices and remote devices.Settings include those described herein, as well as channel and programfavorites, programming preferences that the guidance applicationutilizes to make programming recommendations, display preferences, andother desirable guidance settings. For example, if a user sets a channelas a favorite on, for example, the web site www.tvguide.com on theirpersonal computer at their office, the same channel would appear as afavorite on the user's in-home devices (e.g., user television equipmentand user computer equipment) as well as the user's mobile devices, ifdesired. Therefore, changes made on one user equipment device can changethe guidance experience on another user equipment device, regardless ofwhether they are the same or a different type of user equipment device.In addition, the changes made may be based on settings input by a user,as well as user activity monitored by the guidance application.

The user equipment devices may be coupled to communications network 414.Namely, user television equipment 402, user computer equipment 404, andwireless user communications device 406 are coupled to communicationsnetwork 414 via communications paths 408, 410, and 412, respectively.Communications network 414 may be one or more networks including theInternet, a mobile phone network (e.g., a public land mobile network(PLMN)), mobile device (e.g., Blackberry) network, cable network, publicswitched telephone network, or other types of communications network orcombinations of communications networks. Communications network 414 mayalso include relays, interfaces, gateways, service centers, or any othersuitable infrastructure. For example, BLACKBERRY is a service mark ownedby Research In Motion Limited Corp. Paths 408, 410, and 412 mayseparately or together include one or more communications paths, suchas, a satellite path, a fiber-optic path, a cable path, a path thatsupports Internet communications (e.g., IPTV), free-space connections(e.g., for broadcast or other wireless signals), or any other suitablewired or wireless communications path or combination of such paths. Path412 is drawn with dotted lines to indicate that in the exemplaryembodiment shown in FIG. 4 it is a wireless path and paths 408 and 410are drawn as solid lines to indicate they are wired paths (althoughthese paths may be wireless paths, if desired). Communications with theuser equipment devices may be provided by one or more of thesecommunications paths, but are shown as a single path in FIG. 4 to avoidovercomplicating the drawing.

Although communications paths are not drawn between user equipmentdevices, these devices may communicate directly with each other viacommunication paths, such as those described above in connection withpaths 408, 410, and 412, as well other short-range point-to-pointcommunication paths, such as USB cables, IEEE 1394 cables, wirelesspaths (e.g., Bluetooth, infrared, IEEE 802-11×, etc.), or othershort-range communication via wired or wireless paths. BLUETOOTH is acertification mark owned by Bluetooth SIG, INC. The user equipmentdevices may also communicate with each other directly through anindirect path via communications network 414.

System 400 includes media content source 416 and media guidance datasource 418 coupled to communications network 414 via communication paths420 and 422, respectively. Paths 420 and 422 may include any of thecommunication paths described above in connection with paths 408, 410,and 412. Communications with the media content source 416 and mediaguidance data source 418 may be exchanged over one or morecommunications paths, but are shown as a single path in FIG. 4 to avoidovercomplicating the drawing. In addition, there may be more than one ofeach of media content source 416 and media guidance data source 418, butonly one of each is shown in FIG. 4 to avoid overcomplicating thedrawing. (The different types of each of these sources are discussedbelow.) If desired, media content source 416 and media guidance datasource 418 may be integrated as one source device. Althoughcommunications between sources 416 and 418 with user equipment devices402, 404, and 406 are shown as through communications network 414, insome embodiments, sources 416 and 418 may communicate directly with userequipment devices 402, 404, and 406 via communication paths (not shown)such as those described above in connection with paths 408, 410, and412.

Media content source 416 may include one or more types of mediadistribution equipment including a television distribution facility,cable system headend, satellite distribution facility, programmingsources (e.g., television broadcasters, such as NBC, ABC, HBO, etc.),intermediate distribution facilities and/or servers, Internet providers,on-demand media servers, and other media content providers. NBC is atrademark owned by the National Broadcasting Company, Inc., ABC is atrademark owned by the ABC, INC., and HBO is a trademark owned by theHome Box Office, Inc. Media content source 416 may be the originator ofmedia content (e.g., a television broadcaster, a Webcast provider, etc.)or may not be the originator of media content (e.g., an on-demand mediacontent provider, an Internet provider of video content of broadcastprograms for downloading, etc.). Media content source 416 may includecable sources, satellite providers, on-demand providers, Internetproviders, or other providers of media content. Media content source 416may also include a remote media server used to store different types ofmedia content (including video content selected by a user), in alocation remote from any of the user equipment devices. Systems andmethods for remote storage of media content, and providing remotelystored media content to user equipment are discussed in greater detailin connection with Ellis et al., U.S. patent application Ser. No.09/332,244, filed Jun. 11, 1999, which is hereby incorporated byreference herein in its entirety.

Media guidance data source 418 may provide media guidance data, such asmedia listings, media-related information (e.g., broadcast times,broadcast channels, media titles, media descriptions, ratingsinformation (e.g., parental control ratings, critic's ratings, etc.),genre or category information, actor information, logo data forbroadcasters' or providers' logos, etc.), media format (e.g., standarddefinition, high definition, etc.), advertisement information (e.g.,text, images, media clips, etc.), on-demand information, and any othertype of guidance data that is helpful for a user to navigate among andlocate desired media selections.

Media guidance application data may be provided to the user equipmentdevices using any suitable approach. In some embodiments, the guidanceapplication may be a stand-alone interactive television program guidethat receives program guide data via a data feed (e.g., a continuousfeed, trickle feed, or data in the vertical blanking interval of achannel). Program schedule data and other guidance data may be providedto the user equipment on a television channel sideband, in the verticalblanking interval of a television channel, using an in-band digitalsignal, using an out-of-band digital signal, or by any other suitabledata transmission technique. Program schedule data and other guidancedata may be provided to user equipment on multiple analog or digitaltelevision channels. Program schedule data and other guidance data maybe provided to the user equipment with any suitable frequency (e.g.,continuously, daily, a user-specified period of time, a system-specifiedperiod of time, in response to a request from user equipment, etc.). Insome approaches, guidance data from media guidance data source 418 maybe provided to users' equipment using a client-server approach. Forexample, a guidance application client residing on the user's equipmentmay initiate sessions with source 418 to obtain guidance data whenneeded. Media guidance data source 418 may provide user equipmentdevices 402, 404, and 406 the media guidance application itself orsoftware updates for the media guidance application.

Media guidance applications may be, for example, stand-aloneapplications implemented on user equipment devices. In otherembodiments, media guidance applications may be client-serverapplications where only the client resides on the user equipment device.For example, media guidance applications may be implemented partially asa client application on control circuitry 304 of user equipment device300 and partially on a remote server as a server application (e.g.,media guidance data source 418). The guidance application displays maybe generated by the media guidance data source 418 and transmitted tothe user equipment devices. The media guidance data source 418 may alsotransmit data for storage on the user equipment, which then generatesthe guidance application displays based on instructions processed bycontrol circuitry.

Media guidance system 400 is intended to illustrate a number ofapproaches, or network configurations, by which user equipment devicesand sources of media content and guidance data may communicate with eachother for the purpose of accessing media and providing media guidance.The present invention may be applied in any one or a subset of theseapproaches, or in a system employing other approaches for deliveringmedia and providing media guidance. The following three approachesprovide specific illustrations of the generalized example of FIG. 4.

In one approach, user equipment devices may communicate with each otherwithin a home network. User equipment devices can communicate with eachother directly via short-range point-to-point communication schemesdescribe above, via indirect paths through a hub or other similar deviceprovided on a home network, or via communications network 414. Each ofthe multiple individuals in a single home may operate different userequipment devices on the home network. As a result, it may be desirablefor various media guidance information or settings to be communicatedbetween the different user equipment devices. For example, it may bedesirable for users to maintain consistent media guidance applicationsettings on different user equipment devices within a home network, asdescribed in greater detail in Ellis et al., U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 11/179,410, filed Jul. 11, 2005. Different types of userequipment devices in a home network may also communicate with each otherto transmit media content. For example, a user may transmit mediacontent from user computer equipment to a portable video player orportable music player.

In a second approach, users may have multiple types of user equipment bywhich they access media content and obtain media guidance. For example,some users may have home networks that are accessed by in-home andmobile devices. Users may control in-home devices via a media guidanceapplication implemented on a remote device. For example, users mayaccess an online media guidance application on a website via a personalcomputer at their office, or a mobile device such as a PDA orweb-enabled mobile telephone. The user may set various settings (e.g.,recordings, reminders, or other settings) on the online guidanceapplication to control the user's in-home equipment. The online guidemay control the user's equipment directly, or by communicating with amedia guidance application on the user's in-home equipment. Varioussystems and methods for user equipment devices communicating, where theuser equipment devices are in locations remote from each other, isdiscussed in, for example, Ellis et al., U.S. patent application Ser.No. 10/927,814, filed Aug. 26, 2004, which is hereby incorporated byreference herein in its entirety.

In a third approach, users of user equipment devices inside and outsidea home can use their media guidance application to communicate directlywith media content source 416 to access media content. Specifically,within a home, users of user television equipment 404 and user computerequipment 406 may access the media guidance application to navigateamong and locate desirable media content. Users may also access themedia guidance application outside of the home using wireless usercommunications devices 406 to navigate among and locate desirable mediacontent.

The present invention provides an implementation of short messageservice (SMS) on user equipment devices. User equipment devices, asillustratively shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, include, for example, usertelevision or media devices 402, user computer devices 404, and wirelessuser communication device 406, or any other suitable device. Any othersuitable device may also be used in the present invention. For example,suitable equipment may include the capability to receive an SMS message,to send an SMS message, to display an SMS message, or any suitablecombination thereof. The hardware and software for such configurationsare known in the art.

SMS messages may be classified as mobile-originated short messages(MO-SM) or mobile-terminated short messages (MT-SM), in which themessage can be sent by or received by, respectively, a mobile or othersuitable device. SMS messages can also be classified as point-to-point(SMS-PP), which both the sender and the receiver of the message arespecified. An SMS message may can also be broadcast, in which an SMSmessage is sent, en masse, to plurality of mobile devices. Thisplurality of mobile devices may be determined based on geography (e.g.,the mobile devices within a specified area), affiliation (e.g., themobile devices using a particular mobile service), subscription (e.g.,the mobile users who have expressed interest in and/or subscribed to aparticular service), or any other suitable grouping.

In addition, sent SMS messages can be received and relayed by a shortmessage service center (SMSC), which may be part of a mobile servicecenter. Referring again to FIG. 4, communications network 414 mayinclude one or more of such SMSCs. Messages received by the SMSC can behandled on a “store-and-forward” system, as is known in the art. SMSCscan also include gateways and interfaces to other networks and services,such as to one or more public-switched telephone networks (PTSN), one ormore public land mobile networks (PLMN), one or more internet (TCP/IP)networks, or any other suitable networks. In this manner, the SMSC iscapable of receiving and sending SMS messages from mobile devices, andthen relaying the messages to other devices via the gateways.Furthermore, data can be received by the SMSC from the gateways, andthen relayed to mobile devices as SMS messages. Gateways may beparticularly useful when either or both the sender or recipient is notcapable of the SMS protocol.

SMS refers to one or more related standards and protocols for sendingand receiving messages (referred to as SMS messages). Although SMSoriginally refers to a particular messaging protocol defined under theGroupe Spécial Mobile (GSM) standard for mobile phones, as used hereinthe SMS protocol may also refer to various related and alternativestandards, such as, but not limited to, services implemented usingprotocols and networks based on code division multiple access (CDMA),wideband-CDMA, CDMA-2000, frequency division multiple access (FDMA),time division multiple access (TDMA), advanced mobile phone system(AMPS), digital AMPS, general packet radio service (GPRS), enhanced GPRS(EGPRS or EDGE), universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS), orany other suitable standards that are known in the art and areimplemented on satellite, mobile, landline, and other networks.

An SMS message is originally defined as the message type defined underthe GSM standard. However, as used herein, SMS message may also refer toother message types known in the art such as, without limitation, a longSMS message, a concatenated SMS message, an enhanced SMS message, amultimedia SMS message, and any other suitable SMS message type.

SMS messages can be structured to include a data component (e.g., 1607-bit characters under the GSM standard) and additional routinginformation. The routing information can include instructions relatingto the SIM (i.e. user identifier), the mobile handset, the SMSC, the airinterface, and any other suitable information. SMS messages may furtherinclude information related to the message's validity, priority,time-stamp, and any other suitable information.

In some embodiments, an SMS message can include message formats thathave been extended from the standard protocols, such as enhancedmessaging system (EMS) and multimedia messaging system (MMS). In suchextended SMS messages, the message may include any data type that can besuitably contained or encoded therein, or a pointer or link thereto.Examples of data types that may be used in extended SMS messagesinclude, without limitation, text messages, video clips, audio clips,pictures, universal resource locators (URLs), ring tones,remote-executable commands, and any suitable combination thereof.

In the present invention, an SMS message received by a user equipmentdevice may be displayed on the device. For example, in some embodimentsin which the user equipment device is a user media equipment thatincludes a set-top box and display, the SMS message may be received bythe set-top box and displayed on the display. The receipt and display ofSMS messages on other exemplary devices can occur in an analogousmanner.

As described hereinabove, a user equipment device of the presentinvention may include storage means, in which the user equipment devicemay be configured to store one or more SMS messages in the storagemeans.

For example, referring again to FIG. 3, illustrative user equipmentdevice 300 may be configured to store SMS messages in storage 308. Forexample, SMS messages may be stored in storage 308 after the SMSmessages are received by the user equipment device. In another example,SMS messages may be stored in the user equipment device before beingsent from the user equipment device to a remote location or device.Stored SMS messages may include or be associated with controlinformation, which may include information relating to the sender of theSMS message, the recipient of the message, the time and date when themessage was sent, the time and date when the message was received, andother suitable information. Other suitable types of control informationare discussed herein in further detail.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the user equipment devicemay receive a plurality of SMS messages. In certain embodiments, theplurality of SMS messages originated as a single SMS message, or areintended to be displayed on the recipient user equipment device as asingle SMS message. In these examples, the plurality of received SMSmessages are to be reconstituted, such as by concatenation, to createthe desired single SMS message for display. In some embodiments, atleast one of the plurality of SMS messages may include or may beassociated with at least a portion of control information (describedherein). The control information may include, without limitation,information and/or instructions regarding the reconstitution of theplurality of SMS messages.

SMS messages may be displayed on the recipient user equipment devices.For example, FIG. 5 shows an embodiment in which an illustrative SMSmessage is displayed on user equipment device 500. In certainembodiments, in which user equipment device 500 is a user mediaequipment, the device includes display 510 and set-top box 520. Asdescribed hereinbelow, set-top box 520 may be configured to receive theSMS message.

SMS message 530, when displayed on display 510, may be displayed inoverlayer 535. Overlayer 535 may be displayed over displayed content540. For example, content 540 may be media programming displayed ondisplay 510. Thus, when SMS message 530 is displayed in overlay 535, themessage appears over displayed content 540. In some embodiments,overlayer 535 may be suitably transparent or translucent, therebyallowing the underlying displayed content to be at least partiallyvisible despite the displayed SMS message. In some embodiments,overlayer 535 may be suitably opaque or otherwise visibly contrastingwith the underlying displayed content. In some embodiments, one or moreSMS messages can displayed in a full screen.

In such embodiments, while the underlying content may be less visible,the visibility and/or readability of the displayed SMS message may beenhanced, and may also provide a visual notification of the displayedSMS message to a user.

In some embodiments, SMS message 530 may be displayed in pop-up window550. Such pop-up windows may be configured to appear automatically whenthe message is displayed, thereby providing a visually-distinctive areain which to display the SMS message. The appearance of a pop-up windowsmay also advantageously provide a visual notification to a user that anSMS message is about to be displayed. As with overlayer 535, pop-upwindow 550 may be suitably transparent, translucent, opaque, orcontrasting, for the advantages described above.

Overlayer 535 and pop-up window 550, when displayed, may also includeicon or indicator 560. This icon or indicator may inform the user thatadditional portions of SMS message are available. In such embodiments,the user may be provided with the option to view additional portions ofthe message, or the complete message. If such an option is selected, theadditional or complete message may be displayed in an overlayer orpop-up window, or it may be displayed in a new display configuration(e.g., full screen). If the SMS message is an extended SMS message, theuser may be provided with an option to view the extended data types inthe SMS message.

Although FIG. 5 apparently depicts both overlayer 535 and pop-up window550 displayed in display 540 at the same time, in some embodimentseither or both may be displayed in a given instance. In addition,multiple overlayers and/or pop-up windows may be displayed in certainembodiments. For example, multiple SMS messages may be displayed inmultiple overlayers or pop-up windows, or any suitable combinationthereof. One or more SMS messages 530 can also be displayed in a fullscreen display.

In some embodiments, the displaying of an SMS message may be accompaniedby another indicator, such as an audible signal or a visible flash,either or both of which may be used to advantageously notify the user ofthe message.

In some embodiments of the present invention, an SMS message may bedisplayed on the user equipment device in conjunction with, orconcurrent with, an interactive media guidance application that is alsobeing displayed on the display. Interactive media guidance applicationapplications are described hereinabove, examples of which areillustratively shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

Referring again to FIG. 5, in some embodiments displayed content 540 mayinclude a full-screen or partial-screen interactive media guidanceapplication. Thus, as described above, SMS message 530 may displayed inoverlay 535 or pop-up window 550 over the displayed interactive mediaguidance application.

Referring again to FIGS. 1 and 2, in embodiments in which an SMS messageis displayed with an interactive media guidance application, the SMSmessage may be displayed in certain designated areas of display screens100 or 200.

For example, the SMS message may be displayed in one or more cellsand/or rows of grid 102. The SMS message may be displayed in thelocation of advertisement 124 or video region 122. In some embodiments,such as when the SMS message to be displayed includes additionalextended data types as content, such as images, video, etc., suchadditional content may be displayed either with the SMS message, orseparately; for example, in video window 122.

Option region 126 may also include on-screen options that allow the userto access features concerning the SMS message, such as displaying ordismissing the message, acknowledging the message, responding to themessage, requesting additional portions of the message, and the like.

Referring again to FIG. 2, as with display screen 100 of FIG. 1, an SMSmessage may be displayed in any suitable location or region of displayscreen 200, such as listings 206, 208, 210, and/or 212.

Referring again to FIG. 4, SMS messages may be received by or sent touser equipment devices on any suitable communications means representedby communications network 414 and communication paths 408, 410, and 412,as described hereinabove.

For example, SMS messages by sent or received by user equipment devices402, 404, and 406 via paths 408, 410, and 412 may separately or togetherinclude one or more communications paths, such as, a satellite path, afiber-optic path, a cable path, a path that supports Internetcommunications (e.g., IPTV), free-space connections (e.g., for broadcastor other wireless signals), or any other suitable wired or wirelesscommunications path or combination of such paths.

In some embodiments, the system of the present invention may include oneor more protocol gateways. For example, an SMSC of communicationsnetwork 414 may include such gateways. Such gateways may be configuredto convert SMS messages so that they can be communicated using otherdata communication protocols. For example, some embodiments include atleast one SMS-to-email gateway and/or at least one email-to-SMS gateway,as are known in the art. With such gateways, an SMS message may beconverted or encapsulated such that the SMS message can be transmittedand received via the communication paths using email protocols. Thereverse gateway allows emails to be transmitted and received as SMSmessages.

The system may also include at least one gateway to de-convert orde-encapsulate the previously converted the message, thereby restoringand/or recovering the original message. Other suitable gateways allowconversion of SMS messages to and from instant messaging protocols, asare known in the art.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the user equipment devicemay be configured to receive a broadcast signal from a broadcastservice, wherein the broadcast signal is received via said communicationpaths, as described in further detail hereinabove. In such embodiments,the user equipment device may receive an SMS message via the broadcastsignal. Referring again to FIG. 4, the broadcast service may originatefrom, for example, media content source 416 or media guidance datasource 418, as described in further detail herein. The broadcast signalfrom these broadcast services may be, for example, a digital satellitebroadcast signal, a digital cable broadcast signal, a digitalterrestrial broadcast signal, and other suitable signal.

The broadcast signal may include one or more signal components, in whichdata may be encoded. In this manner, data encoded and carried in suchsignal components are conveyed along with the broadcast signal. Thus, auser equipment device that receives a broadcast signal may also receivethe data encoded within such signal components. Examples of signalcomponents include a television channel sideband, a vertical blankinginterval (VBI), an in-band digital signal, an out-of-band digitalsignal, or any other signal component suitable for transmitting encodeddata with the broadcast signal. In some embodiments, the encoding of SMSmessages in the broadcast signal can occur at an SMSC. The SMSC can alsoinclude a suitable SMS-to-broadcast gateway. In this manner, SMSmessages received and stored by the SMSC, but that are destined for auser media equipment, can be encoded in the broadcast signal and relayedto the user media equipment via the gateway.

FIG. 6 shows an illustrative process for a user equipment device, suchas a set-top box of a user media equipment, to receive an SMS messageencoded in a broadcast signal. In step 610, at least a portion of an SMSmessage is encoded in a signal component (such as a VBI) of a broadcastsignal. In some embodiments, the SMS message may be apportioned betweenmultiple signal components. In step 620, the broadcast signal, alongwith the encoded SMS message, may be received by the user equipmentdevice. In some embodiments, the broadcast signal or the encoded SMSmessage may include information to allow the receiving equipment todecode the SMS message within the signal component. Such decodinginformation may also include, for example, information to allow thereceiving equipment to concatenate or reconstitute the SMS message, asneeded.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the SMS message mayinclude or be associated with additional control information.

Control information can be included in the content of the SMS messageitself, such as a data header. When included in this manner, the controlinformation may include a data flag (or other suitable indicator) toindicate to the receiving device that the control information should notbe displayed as part of the message. Control information can also beincluded as part of the routing information appended to the content ofthe SMS message, as described hereinabove. In this manner, the controlinformation may be appended to the routing information, or it can usepart of the data structure by replacing dispensable routing information.Also, control information may be appended to the SMS message datastructure as metadata. In such embodiments, SMSCs and other mobiledevices may be configured to recognize and handle such appended controlinformation in a suitable manner.

In some embodiments, the SMS message may be received as a plurality ofSMS messages, at least one of which may include or may be associatedwith a portion of the control information. In such embodiments, receiptof the plurality of SMS messages may result in association of the SMSmessage content with its control information.

In some embodiments of the present invention, an SMS message received bythe user equipment device may be displayed on the device substantiallyupon its receipt by the user equipment device. In certain embodiments,the user may be presented with a notification of receipt of the SMSmessage. The user may then be provided with an option to display themessage in response to the notification.

In some embodiments, the received SMS message may be displayed followingthe occurrence of a suitable triggering event. Thus, in suchembodiments, the received SMS message may be stored on the userequipment device following its receipt by the device, awaitingoccurrence of the triggering event. Upon detecting the occurrence of thetriggering event, the SMS message may then be displayed on the device.

A suitable triggering event may include, without limitation, events thatmay be independent of the user's actions. For example, suitabletriggering events may include, without limitation, a specified time ofday, a specified date, the occurrence of a scheduled calendar event, abroadcast time of a specified program received by the user equipmentdevice (e.g., a set-top box of a user media equipment), a display of aspecified commercial on the user equipment device, a specified timeinterval prior to a broadcast time of a specified program received bythe user equipment device, a display of a user-specified reminder on theuser media equipment, a specified external event (e.g., news, weather,stock price, traffic, etc.) or any other suitable event that can bedetectable upon its occurrence.

In some embodiments, the triggering event to display an SMS message maybe a suitable action taken by the user. In particular, such user actionsmay be performed on the user equipment device. For example, when theuser equipment device is a user media equipment, suitable actions mayinclude, without limitation, actions taken on the device, on a componentof the device (e.g., a display or a set-top box), on an applicationbeing executed and/or displayed on the device (e.g., an interactivemedia guidance application), or any other suitable and detectable useraction.

For example, a suitable triggering event that is an action taken by theuser may include, without limitation, tuning the user equipment device(e.g., a set-top box of a user media equipment) to a specified channel,selecting a specified program to be displayed on the user equipmentdevice, setting a reminder, acknowledging a displayed notificationmessage that is displayed on the user equipment device, starting theuser equipment device, starting an application on the user equipmentdevice, providing user-identifying information to the user equipmentdevice or an application thereon, or any other suitable and detectableaction by the user.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the occurrence of thetriggering event, upon its detection, may result in displaying of itsassociated SMS message. Other suitable results may also result upondetection of the occurrence of the triggering event.

For example, a notification or alert may be displayed for the user thatan SMS message has been received. The notification or alert may providean option for the user to take an action regarding the SMS message, suchas view, preview, delete, acknowledge, dismiss, postpone, or respond tothe message, or any other suitable action.

As described hereinabove, an SMS message of the present invention mayinclude or be associated with additional control information. Exemplarycontrol information may include information that allows identificationof a triggering event associated with the SMS message.

A user may be provided with an option to select an associated triggeringevent when composing and/or sending an SMS message. Any suitable mannerfor providing the user with such an option may be used.

For example, a user may send the SMS message to a “short code.” A shortcode is an SMS address (usually numerical) that is interpreted by theSMSC for routing and delivery purposes. Thus, when the user sends an SMSmessage to a given short code, and the given short code corresponds to atriggering event, the SMS message can be associated with the triggeringevent, thereby identifying the event. Such association can includeaddition or inclusion of control information to the message, or routingthe message to a suitable device, thereby also identifying thetriggering event.

In some embodiments, the sender of an SMS message may be provided withan option to select one or more triggering events when composing and/orsending the message. Such an option may be presented as, for example, amenu interface, a command line, a selectable icon, or any suitableoption. The user may also identify a triggering event by including agiven command or code in the SMS message. In this manner, a suitablyconfigured recipient device or SMSC can parse the command or code, andidentify the associated triggering event. The foregoing option mayresult in the addition and/or inclusion of corresponding controlinformation to the SMS message, in the manner described hereinabove.

The triggering event to display an SMS message can also be set at, orby, the receiving user media equipment. Triggering events that can beset at the receiving equipment can include any triggering event asdescribed herein. For example, the receiving user media equipment can beconfigured such that the triggering event is the receipt of the SMSmessage, i.e., to display a received SMS message immediately followingits receipt. In some embodiments, immediate display can be the defaulttriggering event for the receiving equipment.

The triggering event can also be a given or user-selected event. Forexample, a suitable event may be the display of a commercial orpromotion. In this example, displaying the SMS message during acommercial may be less distracting to the user, and more likely toelicit more of the user's attention. A triggering event can also be asuitable user-selected time. For example, user can select a time (e.g.,at or just prior to the 11:00 PM news) at which the user knows he/she isgoing to be viewing a program, and thus any outstanding SMS messages canbe displayed when the user is present and viewing the display.

Triggering events set at the receiving user media equipment can be setby a user. For example, a user at the receiving equipment, in a mannersimilar to that described above, may be provided with an option toselect one or more triggering events that are to be identified fordisplaying a received SMS message. Such an option may be presented as,for example, a menu interface, a command line, a selectable icon, or anysuitable option. The user-determined trigger events can form part of theuser's profile.

When triggering events are set at or by the receiving user mediaequipment, the system can be further configured to determine itsinterplay with any triggering event that may be associated with areceived SMS message. For example, in some configurations, triggeringevents set on the receiving equipment may be used only if the receivingSMS message is not associated with a triggering event. In such aconfiguration, if an SMS message is associated with a triggering event,then the triggering event on the receiving equipment may not beconsidered for the purpose of displaying the message. In someconfigurations, the reverse can be true, such that the triggering eventsset at the receiving equipment always controls or prevails over atriggering event associated with a received SMS message. In otherconfigurations, the determination of which triggering event controls canbe based on suitable criteria, such as the nature of the SMS message(e.g., priority, sender, content, etc.), the time of day, the currentactivity being displayed on the user media equipment, and the like. Forexample, the receiving media equipment may be set with a triggeringevent that postpones display of any SMS message until a later time, evenif the SMS message is associated with its own triggering event. However,in some cases, the equipment may be further configured such that if theSMS message is high priority, or from a certain user, then the messageis displayed immediately, or based on its associated triggering event,even if a different triggering event is set on the receiving equipment.

FIG. 7 shows illustrative flow diagram 700 for displaying an SMS messagein accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. This andother embodiments of the present invention may be implemented on a userequipment device, such as a user media equipment. The user media devicemay include a set-top box with storage, and a display. Whereappropriate, this and other illustrative processes of the presentinvention may, for example, be implemented completely in the processingor control circuitry of a user equipment device (e.g., control circuitry304 or processing circuitry 306), or may be implemented at leastpartially in a media guidance source or other equipment that are remotefrom the user media equipment.

In step 710, an SMS message is received by the user equipment device.The message may include or may be associated with control information,in which the control information may include information that identifiesa triggering event. As discussed above, the identified triggering eventmay serve as a condition for an action to be taken with respect to theSMS message, such as displaying the SMS message or a notificationthereof.

In step 720, the received SMS message may be stored on the userequipment device (e.g., in a storage component) until the occurrence ofthe identified triggering event. In some embodiments, the SMS messagemay be stored on a remote device, such as a remote server or otherremote source. This remote storage may be after identifying thetriggering event after receiving the SMS message, or preemptively (i.e.,before receipt of the SMS message by the user equipment device). In suchembodiments, upon detection of the occurrence of the triggering event(as described below), the remotely-stored SMS message may be sent to theuser equipment device.

In step 730, the occurrence of the identified triggering event isdetected. In some embodiments, this detection may result from acontinuous or regular polling of the system to detect the triggeringevent. In other embodiments, occurrence of the triggering event itselfmay provide specific notification that the event has occurred.

In step 740, in response to the detection of the occurrence of theidentified triggering event, the SMS message is displayed on the userequipment device.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the control information(as described herein) included in or associated with an SMS message mayinclude information that identifies one or more intended recipients ofthe SMS message. This recipient information may include information thatidentifies the person(s) intended to receive the SMS message. Thisrecipient information may include information that identifies the deviceintended to receive the SMS message.

In some embodiments, the foregoing control information that identifiesthe intended recipient(s) may be used to direct the transmission of theSMS message to those recipients. In some embodiments, as describedbelow, such control information may be used in a different manner, inwhich the recipient may determine whether it is an intended recipient ofthe message.

FIG. 8 shows illustrative flow process 800 which may utilize suchcontrol information. In step 810, an SMS message is received, in whichthe SMS message may include or may be associated with controlinformation that identifies one or more recipients of the message.

In step 820, the receiving user equipment device determines that atleast one of the identified intended recipients is the receiving device,or a user thereof. In step 830, upon making such a determination, thereceived SMS message may be displayed on the receiving user equipmentdevice in the manners described herein.

An advantage of the foregoing process may be, without limitation,allowing an SMS message with such control information to be broadly sentto a plurality of devices (or a plurality of users thereof), of which atleast one is an intended recipient. In this manner, each receivingdevice may make the determination as to whether it is an intendedrecipient based on the associated control information, and, if such adetermination is made, the intended recipients may then display themessage.

In some embodiments of the present invention, upon displaying of an SMSmessage on a user equipment device, a user may be provided with theoption to respond to the displayed SMS message. In some embodiments, theresponse may be sent to the sender (and/or other persons or devices) asan SMS message of one of the types described herein or otherwise knownin the art. In some embodiments, the user may be provided with theoption of responding via email, instant messaging protocol, voice mail,file transfer, or any other suitable communication or combinationthereof.

However, the original SMS message sender may be using a user equipmentdevice that may not be capable of receiving certain forms of responses.For example, although many mobile phones may be capable of sending orreceiving SMS messages, not all may be capable of sending and/orreceiving email messages.

Accordingly, in some embodiments, the user response may be sent via agateway. For example, the user may respond to the displayed SMS messagewith an email. This email response may be sent via an email-to-SMSgateway, such that it is converted to, encapsulated in, or otherwisesuitably converted so that it can be received as an SMS message. Incertain embodiments, the system may be configured such that a gateway isused in both directions, such that an email-only user and an SMS-onlyuser may communicate without substantial difficulty.

For example, FIG. 9 shows illustrative process 900 for responding to adisplayed SMS message. In step 910, a user response to a displayed SMSmessage may be received by the user equipment device. In step 920, theuser response may be sent to the sender of the displayed SMS message. Insome embodiments, the user response may be sent via an email-to-SMSgateway, or any other suitable gateway.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the system may include aplurality of user equipment devices (e.g., user media equipment withset-top boxes) that are in signal communication with each other. Furtherdescription of such device configurations are described hereinabove, andshown in FIG. 4.

In some embodiments having a plurality of suitable devices, at least oneof the device may be configured to receive an SMS message. The SMSmessage may include control information (as described hereinabove) thatidentifies at least one of the other devices as an intended recipient ofthe SMS message. Accordingly, the receiving device may then determinethe intended recipients of the SMS message, and forward the SMS messagesto at least one of the intended recipients.

FIG. 10 show illustrative flow process 1000 in accordance with one suchembodiment of the present invention. In step 1010, a user equipmentdevice receives an SMS message, in which the SMS message may include ormay be associated with control information. This control information mayinclude the identities of at least one other intended recipient device.In step 1020, the user equipment device receiving the SMS message maydetermine at least one of the intended recipient devices based on thecontrol information. In step 1030, the user equipment device receivingthe SMS message may then forward the received SMS device to at least oneof the intended recipient devices.

It will be appreciated that while the discussion of media content hasfocused on video content, the principles of media guidance can beapplied to other types of media content, such as music, images, etc.

The foregoing describes systems and methods for displaying a shortmessage service (SMS) message on user media equipment. Those skilled inthe art will appreciate that the invention can be practiced by otherthan the described embodiments, which are presented for the purpose ofillustration rather than of limitation.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for causing an electronic message,written by a user of a mobile device, to be displayed on a userequipment device, the method comprising: receiving with the userequipment device the electronic message written by the user of themobile device, wherein the electronic message includes first controlinformation identifying a triggering event associated with display ofthe electronic message, and wherein the identified triggering event isindependent of user action and is associated with at least one of a userprofile and specified content being displayed; retrieving the userprofile, wherein the user profile includes second control information:comparing the first control information of the received electronicmessage with the second control information of the user profile;determining, based on the comparing, that at least a portion of thefirst control information matches a portion of the second controlinformation; and based on determining that at least the portion of thefirst control information matches the portion of the second controlinformation, causing the electronic message to be displayed on at leasta portion of a display associated with the user equipment device,wherein the triggering event is associated with at least one of the userprofile and the specified content being displayed on the display.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, wherein: the electronic message is a short messageservice (SMS) message, the at least a portion of the display comprises apop-up window, and causing the received electronic message to bedisplayed comprises causing the electronic message to be displayed inthe pop-up window.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein: the electronicmessage is a short message service (SMS) message, an interactive mediaguidance application is implemented on the user equipment device, the atleast a portion of the display is at least a portion of an interactivemedia guidance application display, and causing the received electronicmessage to be displayed comprises causing the received electronicmessage to be displayed in the at least a portion of the interactivemedia guidance application display.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein:the electronic message is a short message service (SMS) message, theelectronic message includes the first control information in any one ofcontent of the electronic message, routing information of the electronicmessage, or metadata of the electronic message.
 5. The method of claim1, wherein: the electronic message is a short message service (SMS)message, the at least a portion of the display comprises an overlaywindow, and causing the received electronic message to be displayedcomprises causing the received electronic message to be displayed in theoverlay window.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein: the electronicmessage is an extended short message service (SMS) message, and the userequipment device is a set-top box.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein:the electronic message is a short message service (SMS) message, theelectronic message comprises information identifying one or moreintended recipients of the electronic message, and receiving theelectronic message comprises determining that at least one of theintended recipients of the electronic message is the user equipmentdevice.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic message is ashort message service (SMS) message, and receiving the electronicmessage comprises: receiving a plurality of electronic messages; andconcatenating the received plurality of electronic messages to createthe electronic message.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronicmessage is a short message service (SMS) message, and furthercomprising: receiving a user response to the displayed electronicmessage; and sending the user response from the user equipment device toa sender of the displayed electronic message.
 10. The method of claim 1,wherein the user profile corresponds to the user of the mobile device ora user of the user equipment device.
 11. A system for causing anelectronic message, written by a user of a mobile device, to bedisplayed on a user equipment device, the system comprising: the userequipment device configured to: receive the electronic message writtenby the user of the mobile device, wherein the electronic messageincludes first control information identifying a triggering eventassociated with display of the electronic message, and wherein theidentified triggering event is independent of user action and isassociated with at least one of a user profile and specified contentbeing displayed; retrieve the user profile, wherein the user profileincludes second control information; compare the first controlinformation of the received electronic message with the second controlinformation of the user profile; determine, based on the comparing, thatat least a portion of the first control information matches a portion ofthe second control information; and based on determining that at leastthe portion of the first control information matches the portion of thesecond control information, cause the electronic message to be displayedon at least a portion of a display associated with the user equipmentdevice, wherein the triggering event is associated with at least one ofthe user profile and the specified content being displayed on thedisplay.
 12. The system of claim 11, wherein: the electronic message isa short message service (SMS) message, the at least a portion of thedisplay comprises a pop-up window, and the user equipment device isfurther configured to cause the electronic message to be displayed inthe pop-up window.
 13. The system of claim 11, wherein: the electronicmessage is a short message service (SMS) message, an interactive mediaguidance application is implemented on the user equipment device, the atleast a portion of the display is at least a portion of an interactivemedia guidance application display, and the user equipment device isfurther configured to cause the received electronic message to bedisplayed in the at least a portion of the interactive media guidanceapplication display.
 14. The system of claim 11, wherein: the electronicmessage is a short message service (SMS) message, and the electronicmessage includes the first control information in any one of content ofthe electronic message, routing information of the electronic message,or metadata of the electronic message.
 15. The system of claim 11,wherein: the electronic message is a short message service (SMS)message, the at least a portion of the display comprises an overlaywindow, and the user equipment device is further configured to cause thereceived electronic message to be displayed in the overlay window. 16.The system of claim 11, wherein: the electronic message is an extendedshort message service (SMS) message, and the user equipment device is aset-top box.
 17. The system of claim 11, wherein: the electronic messageis a short message service (SMS) message, the electronic messagecomprises information identifying one or more intended recipients of theelectronic message, and the user equipment device is further configuredto determine that at least one of the intended recipients of theelectronic message is the user equipment device.
 18. The system of claim11, wherein the electronic message is a short message service (SMS)message, and the user equipment device is further configured to: receivea plurality of electronic messages; and concatenate the receivedplurality of electronic messages to create the electronic message. 19.The system of claim 11, wherein the electronic message is a shortmessage service (SMS) message, and the user equipment device is furtherconfigured to: receive a user response to the displayed electronicmessage; and send the user response from the user equipment device to asender of the displayed electronic message.
 20. The system of claim 11,wherein the user profile corresponds to the user of the mobile device ora user of the user equipment device.